How do people realise that something is a trend and start wearing it?

[mustlovegin]

Also, how do trends start and who starts them?

For instance, Veja trainers. One day I saw everyone wearing them all of a sudden, no other brands in sight

Or lately I've been spotting several young women wearing overalls at trendy places (but they were not working IYSWIM). Have they become a trend?

I find this fascinating too. I'm not particularly stylish, but I do love fashion and clothes. A few times I've found myself adopting a new style quite early - partly through luck, but mainly through boredom with wearing the same old outfits!

I think that's how the trend cycle works; a new silhouette is a contrast, a reaction against the old one... And then add into the mix some random curveballs that no one could have predicted.

I'm 51 now so I'm not looking at magazines (or influencers) and I'm glad that I'm disconnected from what the next trend is, I'd look ridiculous!

I’m surprised you feel like this! My interest in clothing and fashion has only deepened with age - and as I no longer have any need or inclination to mark myself out as belonging to any tribe, I feel freer than ever to be bold in my dressing.

Ooh, this is an interesting discussion. Not least because I'm usually oblivious to trends.

The 'switch' in the brain idea is fascinating but think I might be firmly stuck in my teenage head! I never embraced low rise or skinny jeans or leggings or tunics - tbh I can't really think if any other 'look' that I've enjoyed since...

At the moment I'm thrilled that the styles of my tween/early teen years are 'in' and I'm embracing baggy mom jeans, trainers and all things casual. Ive also always had a soft spot for the (clasic, velvety) goth and grunge 'looks'. All very 90s...

I guess the people at the ‘top’ (famous fashion designers etc) design their collections every season, go to catwalk and that sets the trends which are then copied by ships, filtering right down to the cheaper stores.

As for why certain brands suddenly take off (eg every teen wearing those Nike Air Force trainers currently!) I’m guessing there’s a combination of factors why some things become really popular and others don’t

I’m surprised you feel like this! My interest in clothing and fashion has only deepened with age
Same here, especially now that I've been around long enough to see how a trend will come in, then start looking dated, then come back around looking good again before going out once more, and so on ad infinitum. And every time it happens I think this is when I'll spot how it's done but I never do.

Can I be the first person to add in the Cerulean Blue speech from Devil Wears Pravda please?

I think anyone who is very interested in fashion and clothes will have had the experience of thinking 'what I really want is X' and not being able to find it in the shops but then a year or two years later, suddenly it's everywhere. It happens to me quite a lot! I don't know if I have subconsciously noticed the item somewhere or what. But I don't read fashion magazines or follow influencers on Instagram so not quite sure where I'd have seen whatever it was!

I think for me, I tend to see trends adopted quickly that have a fair amount in common with what people are wearing already. So take a trainer brand. Women who already like trainers will see a brand and happily adopt it (this happened with Superga - women who already wore Converse or who liked Converse but found them uncomfortable bought them). Women who already wear jeans will eventually try a different shape. It takes a lot longer for, say, a jeans-and-breton wearer to accept tiered midi dresses and trainers as a casual outfit.

I normally first see trends on my friends and they've normally seen them on people out and about. My nearest city is Bath though which is a bit dull for fashion, especially during the week.

I’m not sure if I’m ahead of the trends or outside them sometimes. In approx 2016 I developed a yearning to wear the shapeless Liberty print midi skirt ms that my mum wore when I was a kid. They only “work” with a short top.

Fast forward to now and although no one is wearing those skirts the silhouette is very trendy.

Something similar happened around 2017 when I decided that I needed a pair of Levi’s engineered jeans - I’ve been wearing barrel legged jeans for ages now. Suddenly they are fashionable - it’s quite an odd feeling.

I think we used to follow America in house design / kitchens.

But who would have thought we would go from magnolia wall colour to grey everywhere. Magnolia seems fresh/ warmish, light when it started now it seems a bit sickly, boring - but grey was not previously in fashion and now it's everywhere. But maybe it was everywhere because we now have a bold colour - teal, red on one wall of a room.
What will be next?
Post covid styles might be more relaxed, less minimalist, reflecting the choices of the owner rather than fashion following.

A colleague, who was the same age as me, always used to look great. Really on trend, cool without seeing try-hard. We each had young children, demanding jobs, commutes etc. I used to wonder how she did it.

So one day I asked her. She said that she bought Grazia magazine every issue (is it fortnightly?) and bought all the outfits that she liked and that they'd put together. And wore them exactly.

She was a standard size 10-12, about 5 foot 6, and she looked amazing all the time. I am more of a size 14 these days, a shortie and don't have a remotely cool vibe about me, despite being able to afford to do this. A shame!

But who would have thought we would go from magnolia wall colour to grey everywhere

House décor is probably easier to understand as I imagine most people go to department stores, magazines, Instagram for inspiration rather than having a nose round other people's houses (or maybe they do ). It seems more planned

Aargh - I hate that Cerulean blue speech with a passion!!!

I choose colours that I love and many that have been a trend lately are ones that I loathe eg mustard. I would never wear anything mustard in a million years regardless of how 'on trend' it is because it doesn't suit my colouring and it reminds me of baby poo!!. Apologies to those who love it.

I hate the fact that colours, particularly, are trend lead, because I feel that they are so individual in terms of what suits you and makes you feel good.

Sorry to rant but as I say, every time I hear that speech I want to punch Meryl Streep in the face (and I'm a very placid person normally)

www.masterclass.com/articles/fashion-trend-forecasting-guide#5-ways-fashion-brands-forecast-trends

This gives a wee bit of an overview, and also explains the micro/macro trend thing that a poster upthread referred to.

Personally I still read magazines, and enjoy seeing the catwalk stuff at "show times" which gives an indication of some things which might filter down to the high street - even just as simple as a colour or a hem length. I follow loads of different people on Instagram, some of whom are just ordinary women whose style I like, others who are working in partnership with brands.

This is less relevant to the OP's question in terms of a trend, I know, but sometimes it's just about being "tickled" by something I see someone else wearing, and deciding to find out a bit more about it. There are always threads on here scrapping about jeans, for example. A few years back, 2017 or 2018, I saw a woman in what I now know are barrel leg jeans, and thought she looked really fresh and great in them. So I did a bit of digging around the internet, and ended up buying some from Whistles - I've never worn skinny jeans again since. Seeing things on TV shows can work similarly. After watching It's a Sin at the beginning of the year I hunted down some vintage 80s mohair jumpers, which I am excited to get back into as the weather turns colder.

Thanks for the link Judystilldreamsofhorses

@Edmontine

I'm 51 now so I'm not looking at magazines (or influencers) and I'm glad that I'm disconnected from what the next trend is, I'd look ridiculous!

I’m surprised you feel like this! My interest in clothing and fashion has only deepened with age - and as I no longer have any need or inclination to mark myself out as belonging to any tribe, I feel freer than ever to be bold in my dressing.

Think you added some interpretation of your own here, my interest in clothes has not diminished. I watch some series purely for the clothes. I love design classics and i know what looks ok on me and i do not look in the slightest bit dated.

Fair enuff!

Denim jackets have been in fashion since I was 9 (I'm 42 now). There hasn't been one year that's past when they haven't been in the shops during summer.
The same with biker jackets - every year mumsnet say they are dated but they have been popular since at least 2006 and are still going strong.
At the moment I am a bit puzzled by the reappearance of flared jeans - I just think they look so dated and 90's, I really don't think they are at all flattering when worn with trainers but I guess the more I start seeing people in them this winter the more 'used' to the look I will get and maybe eventually start liking it again.
I could never understand sliders with socks either but everyone is wearing them this summer!

I think magazines used to drive the trends a great deal, as pp said upthread. I vividly remember the switch from short to long skirts right at the very beginning of the 90s, because I was about 12 and an avid reader of fashion magazines (Vogue, Elle etc.), but I had only seen the long skirt trend in them and not in real life. Then one day I remember being utterly delighted on my way into town to see a woman wearing a long black skirt with a split — which looked very odd in person!

Six months later long skirts were the only thing in the shops and they didn’t leave for ten years or more.

Now I think it’s a mixture of social media advertising and email advertising and so on. I now watch almost no TV and read no magazines, but I get advertised to on social media all the time and magically I seem to know what the new trends are…

I was delighted by the return of the long skirt trend, I have to say 😂

Denim jackets have been in fashion since I was 9

Yes, denim jackets are a mystery to me as they have become so ubiquitous this summer. Absolutely everyone appears to have one (even women whose overall style you wouldn't associate with a denim jacket at all )

I think denim jackets are still subject to trends though. I've got one I bought in the noughties and it's cropped and very fitted whereas the current ones are more oversized and look quite different.

My favourite trends are the ones that don't involve buying anything: half tucking in your shirt, rolling up your sleeves, fastening your cardigan with an old brooch, tying the belt of your coat instead of buckling it (except they now routinely sell trench coats with tie belts so guess what they'll be doing next.....?)

When I was a younger, pre the existence of any social media/insta etc, you kind of just wore what your mates were wearing/what you saw in magazines and what was in the shops at the time.

When I was about 13 , I begged my mum to get me this silver sparkly mid length strappy dress with a side split for the school disco , because I'd seen it in a posh fashion mag. I remember girls in the year above saying how much they loved my dress and where was it from... I was chuffed to bits!
Less then 2 years later, the Y2k trend hit big time and that style of dress was everywhere. It was probably the only time I wore something before it became 'on trend!'

I'm now coming up to my mid thirties and although I still have an interest in fashion, I rarely buy into trends , unless I really love them. I think you gain confidence as you get older, knowing what you look/feel good in etc.

I just know ! I'm very aware of the world around me and what people are wearing . I also follow a lot of middle aged influencers to n Instagram but I'm often aware of trends before they start on them . Dunno it's kind of a gift 🤣

@MrsRobbieHart

We didn’t have social media in the 90’s but I definitely remember buying a lot of magazines. Thousands and thousands of pictures of women- model, singers, actors, etc and the focus was all on what they looked like and what they were wearing. They would show you cheap versions of what the famous person was wearing so you could “get the look”.

I used to look at these magazines. I remember talking to a friend and both of us saying that nobody would dress like this in real life, that it was ridiculous, etc. And then one day I went to a big city...

@Floisme

I find this fascinating. I don't think any social media or corporate wizardry can quite explain that switch inside my head that turns something from looking a bit odd to something interesting and desirable, especially if it's coming back into fashion for the second or third time. It's even more interesting when the switch works the other way and the scales fall from my eyes and 'I think what the hell was I doing?'

It takes me a very long time. I don't like the fashion victim look, but once those things have been in fashion for a while, they'll be acceptable to me. I don't think it's necessarily a good thing to be ahead of the crowd as you look silly to the majority of people. I once read that very fashion forward people are often too cold or too hot as they're wearing the next season's clothes.